Analysis of Soybean Shipments at U.S. Origin and Overseas Destination

This is an interim report to determine whether there are grade and quality differences in soybean shipments between U.S. origin and overseas destination. Conditions and grade standards are compared and other factors affecting the availability and suitability of U.S. soybeans are identified. This study quantifies the extent of soybean damage, with suggestions for its reduction. It describes specific handling and transport environments and operations that cause losses as soybeans are moved through the various marketing channels. Increasing demands by industry for this type of information prompted this study. Ten soybean shipments with 767 origin and 428 destination samples were found to be highly variable. The foreign material and the splits, or broken beans, were within the U.S. standards for grade 2 soybeans at both origin and destination. The data show an increase in foreign material and splits as the soybeans were moved from U.S. ports to overseas buyers. The foreign material variations may have been due to in-transit deterioration or to grading or sampling errors, or they may have been the natural result of sampling variations. Although the amount of foreign material in the shipments did not exceed the grade standards, more samples are needed to determine the amount at the export elevator, based on various sampling methods and modes of transport. The quality analyses of origin and destination samples were surprisingly similar for oil and protein content, averaging 20.7 percent of oil at origin and destination and 40.3 and 40.2 percent of protein at origin and destination, respectively. Gravity activated loading systems for moving soybeans caused less impact damage than pneumatic unloading systems. Overseas handling and unloading systems, including clam buckets, pneumatic suckers, and Vac-u-vators, damaged the soybeans when they were moved from the ship to the processor or end user. Charter rates to move 10 shipments to overseas destination were lower than conference rates because supply and demand were favorable in both the soybean and the shipping market. Soybean prices during this period were variable, with no apparent relationship to quality.